Rahima Kandahari, a career diplomat in the Senior Foreign Service, is Dean in the School of Applied Information Technology (SAIT) at the Foreign Service Institute. From September 2019-August 2021, she was the Director of Office of eDiplomacy. Prior to her assignment in eDiplomacy, she served as the Senior Bureau Official in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues from 2017-2019 and as a Public Diplomacy Officer in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Office of Press and Public Diplomacy. Rahima also served as the Media Team Lead in the Strategic Communication Office of U.S Embassy Kabul. Other overseas tours include Bagram, Afghanistan, Jeddah and Copenhagen. Her domestic tours include Office of Governance and Policy (GP) in Information Resource Management (IRM) Bureau, Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer, and Secretary of State’s advanced communication team.
Rahima’s expertise and interests include Strategic Communication, Gender Issues and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). Born in Afghanistan, Rahima and her family immigrated to the United States during the initial stages of the Soviet-Afghan war. Rahima holds a Computer Science degree from American University Washington DC, and Master of Art in Strategic Security Studies from National Defense University, College of International Security Affairs. She is fluent in Dari/Farsi, and conversational in Pashto.